Live Life to the Fullest
by DropofCrimson
Summary: Kagome's grandmothers house had been a safe haven for her since she was a little girl. But what will happen when someone in her past turns her world upside down and gives her a better outlook on life? InuKag Please R&R. I need to know if I should go on. T
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone. I came up with another idea for a fic that was inspired by a great book by James Paterson called _Sam's Letters to Jennifer_. It is a great book, but my ideas will be put in with some scenes from the book. I hope you enjoy it! And just to let you know before you read this, this _is _an Inu/Kag fic.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and I don't take any credit of anything to do with James Paterson's _Sam's Letters to Jennifer.

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Prologue

Live Life to the Fullest

DropofCrimson

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Nothing special had ever happened to me in my life. You know the celebrates that get all the fame and glory? I was the total opposite. I had an ordinary job, an ordinary apartment, an ordinary cat. Everything in my life was just…ordinary. That was until he came into my life. And then all of a sudden, my life was anything but ordinary.

His name was Hojo Tanma, and he worked at a media company called Sengoku Jedai. I work as a journalist writing a column in a magazine called Crystal Clear, mostly talking about everyday women in the Chicago area, when I was summoned to do a column involving the rising media company, and Hojo was the one I was supposed to be talking to. I really can tell you that it was love at first site.

After I wrote my column, and had gotten great reviews, he had come by and asked me out to dinner. There was this shyness about him that I couldn't get over, and of course I said yes, and our love affair went on from there. Everything in my ordinary life had turned upside down within a short period of three glorious months.

Then on a beautiful April day in Chicago, Hojo asked me to marry him on our 3rd month anniversary. How could I say no.

My family adored him, and I was the happiest woman on the planet. A week before our wedding day, we made our choice to go to Hawaii on our honeymoon; the thought of beautiful beaches and clear waters making me giddy with excitement. We made reservations, and we were set to go on our honeymoon of a lifetime.

The wedding was all that I had imagined. Simple, but beautiful in its own way. When Hojo and me were leaving for the airport, my friends and family threw rice and flower petals at us as we climbed into the limo. When we were safely inside, Hojo pulled me close and kissed me softly, telling me he loved me over and over again.

After a three-hour flight, we made it to Hawaii, and it was even more beautiful then I had hoped itwould be. We went to the hotel we were to stay at and got our keys and practically ran for the room. I was excited and terrified at the same time. Questions raced through my mind. What would he think of me, and would I be good enough? But before I could think any further, Hojo suggested that we go out a take a quick swim in the ocean. I could tell Hojo wanted to go, but I really didn't fell like it, since I was so nervous about the events that would take place in just a few short hours. I felt really silly about felling that way, even if I was a 22 year old. But it would be my first time.

So Hojo changed into his swimming trunks and gave me a kiss as he walked out the door.

An hour went by, then two, and Hojo still hadn't come back. I was panicking after the third hour, so I fled out of the hotel room, and out onto the warm beach of Honolulu. I yelled for him many times, but the only response I received was the crashing of the waves on the shore.

Tears streaked down my face as terrible thoughts of something happening to him came to mind. But the thoughts just seemed too horrible to believe. Hojo was a great swimmer. He couldn't have…drowned. I then started to run back towards the hotel room, hoping and praying to God that I was overreacting, and that he would be back in the hotel room safe and sound.

I ran up the stairs and swung open the door, only to find my hopes dashed as I saw that Hojo wasn't there and it was just as I had left it. I was starting to hyperventilate as I reached over to the phone, trying desperately to tell the receptionist that I wanted to speak to the manager through thelump that was in my throat. I waited, trying to calm myself down as the manager's voice came into the phone.

I told him that my husband went out for a swim and he hasn't come back for hours. The manager told me that they were going to do all they could to find him, and said he would get back to me when they found anything. When I heard the soft click of the phone going dead, I put it back in it's cradle, and started crying. I prayed that they would find him, but then again hoping they didn't find him and tell me that something had happened. I cried and cried until I cried myself to sleep on the hotel bed.

A couple of hours latter, a knock on the door had brought me back to consciousness. I groggily walked to the door, and opened it to find 2 lifeguards and apolicemen behind the door. My body went rigid as my mind registered what had happened earlier today. I readied my self for what they had to say, and let them in. I closed the door and walked over to a nearby chair, my face showing my inner turmoil. "Mrs.…Kagome Tanma is it?" I lifted my head and nodded. The police officer steeped forward and kneeled down so that he was eye level. "We found your husband."

He looked into my watery eyes with an apologetic look, which could only mean one thing. "We found him about 30 miles away from shore. He has a pretty bad gash on the back of his head." He hesitated before he went on to tell me the rest. "He has lost a lot of blood." He put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a light squeeze, while Iwaited for him to say the words that I had be dreading for the last 5 hours.

"We've tried everything we could for him. He…didn't make it. I'm very sorry." I had stopped hearing what he was saying when he said 'We found him.' He said it in that way that you hear in movies in hospital scenes when you know that the hero is going to die. I knew that Hojo was dead the moment I saw them at the door. I just sat there in my chair, silent tears rolling down my face.

The love of my life had left me, leaving me alone and cold in the world. I had become a newlywed, and widower in the same day. It had become the best and worst day of my life.

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Please tell me what you think. I really want to get some advise on this one. Now...push the little purple button. Yeah you know the one I'm talking about, your staring right at it!

DropofCrimson


	2. The Call

Hi everyone. Sorry for the long wait, but I was busy with school and trying to find a job in my spare time. I'm sorry that this chapter is so short, but I had to get it out, and the chapters will get longer, I promise. So, read and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and I don't take any credit of anything to do with James Patterson's _Sam's Letters to Jennifer.

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The Call

Living Life to the Fullest

DropofCrimson

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_3 Years Latter…_

My two-bedroom apartment is an old building in Chicago. Hojo and I had loved everything about it. We had picked it out a few weeks before the honeymoon and decided to get it.

I'm working at home a lot lately. Not going to the office at all between the spans of two to three months sometimes, just e-mailing my columns to my boss at work. My friends keep telling me to go out and see the world; not that I haven't seen enough of it. They keep calling my house day in and day out, trying to get me to go out on blind dates and what not.

But the thing is, I just haven't gotten over it. Even after three years of mourning and wondering where I will be when I _stop_ wondering _why._ Why me?

For the first few months after Hojo's death, I kept thinking: I can't live without you, Hojo.

Now, things had finally begun to die down. I have a lot of good friends to keep my mind off of the whole ordeal; the two being Sango and Miroku. I love these guys to death, and I owe them so much after what they have done for me. Taking me to movies, out to dinner, to the beach, anything to get my mind off of it. Now, it had been three months since their wedding day, and still in marital bliss.

I envied them, and probably always will. But enough about the past.

Right now, I had a deadline that I had to make sure was done in two hours time, and still had nothing down.

My trash bin was filled to the brim with wadded up paper. The big problem with being a columnist, was that everything has already been thought of. So I had nothing to do but hope and pray that an idea would hit me like a Mack Truck, andquickly.

I picked myself up off my kitchen chair, turned up the air conditioning, took a sip of yummy gas station coffee, and tried to think of something that would make the column sell. I had unconsciously started to pace back and forth in my living room, chewing on a piece of beef jerky as I brainstormed.

I was startled out of my thoughts when I heard a huge crash over in the corner of the room. I looked over to see my cat Buyo over at the bookshelf knocking over _Twilight _and _Memoirs of a Geisha_ as he passed them with his fat belly. I looked over at him and gave a cold look, when my phone rang, making me jump again, making me wonder why I was so jumpy. I yanked it out of its cradle and gave a graspy hello with the piece of beef jerky still lodged in my mouth.

I recognized the voice instantly and drew in a sharp breath. It was a voice I hadn't heard in years, not since the last time I had visited my grandmother, Kaede. My grandparents were my parents to me. After my mother died when I was too young to walk, she had taken me in. I loved heras a parent, and the best friend that I could tell anything to.

This voice that I heard on the phone was our minister, Totosai. His voice was chocked with age, and it sounded as if he were trying to hold back tears.

"Kagome." Totosai said. I swallowed the hideous lump of jerky before I could answer him. "Hello Totosai. It's been ages. How is everything over there?"

I heard him take in a breath and let it out as I waited for him to say something, but not expecting to hear this.

"It's Kaede."

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Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I had to leave it off here. I really need your support in this, so please leave your thoughts. I will update as soon as I can, which shouldn't be as long aslast time. Thanks a bunch, and please review.

DropofCrimson


	3. Lake Geneva

Hi you guys. Here's another chapter. I hope this one is a little better from the last one, since that one was a rushed one. And it is longer by the way. So, bring on the story!

**Gabby1123: **I'm sorry about the last chapter, but thanks for your input. This is longer, and I hope you like it. Thanks.

**Eowyn Organa: **I personally don't like Hojo either. He is too much of a goody goody to me. And he's too NICE! You just want to take a grapefruit and shove it in his face. And yes, he is an idiot. Thanks for the review.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and I don't take credit of anything to do with James Patterson's _Sam's Letters to Jennifer.

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Lake Geneva

Live Life to the Fullest

DropofCrimson

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I clutched the phone closer to my ear with both hands, my palms sweating. "What happened?" I heard him sigh before he spoke again. "Kagome, there's no easy way to tell you this. Your grandmother took a fall, and its not good." 

I gasped and Ifelt my heart start to beat faster. "Oh no." I closed my eyes and sent my thoughts to Lake Geneva, the place where I had grown up, and had had the time of my life. I heard Totosai clear his throat, and listened intently to what he had to say. "She was alone when it happened, so we don't know how she fell. Only that she is in a coma. Do you think you can come down, Kagome?"

I said that I could, and hurried to get a couple things together. How could this be happening? I had just gotten off the phone with her two days ago, joking about my nonexistent love life, and reminiscing about all of my past boyfriends before Hojo. She was a comedian. That was just who she was.

It took me all of three minutes to change clothes and put a few things in a duffle bag, but it took a little longer trying to coax Buyo to get into his cage to go onto the unexpected trip. I ran out the door and threw my stuff in the trunk of the old Jeep, while placing Buyo in the back. Then I gunned the Jeep down the driveway, and headed toward Lake Geneva, which was about an hour and a half away, northwest of Chicago.

As I drove down the busy highway, I tried to think about anything _but _Kaede. My grandmother was the only one I had left. After my mother died, Kaede became my mother and my best friend. She had taught me everything, and could read me like a book.

A sad smile came to my face as I remembered her seventy-fifth wedding anniversary. Over 200 people had shown up, and everyone toasted them with a huge round of applause. We danced and ate as we watched Kaede and Grandpa Tanakahold her inhis arms outon the patio looking at the stars. Everyone clapped and whistled as while they were dancing,he dipped Kaede and kissed her. It wasn't until four months later that grandpa died. Many people thought that she would die along with him, but she didn't. She had been fine…that is, until now.

I took on a sharp curve and almost clipped a Chevy, when I turned onto a road that would take me to the local hospital where Kaede was being cared for. "Just a couple more minutes, Kaede."

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I rushed out of my car and into the sliding doors of the ICU. I tried not to flinch as the smell of antiseptic filled my nostrils. I went up to the head nurse with thinning, gray hair and asked for directions to Kaede's room. The nurse pointed down the hallway. "We're all glad that you made it. I love your column by the way." I turned around and smiled at the nurse. "Thanks. Your very kind." 

I hurried down the corridor and walked into Kaede's room, stopping as soon as I saw her. "Oh Kaede. What happened to you?" I hated the way she looked. She had tubes sticking in her arms and in her nose, and she smelled of antiseptic and sickness. I wanted to smell the Kaede that would hold me in her arms at night when I was young. I wanted to smell her detergent that she washed her clothes in, and the smell of her favorite perfume. I wanted _my _Kaede back.

"It's Kagome." I slowly grasped my hand weekly in hers, almost expecting her to squeeze mine in return. "I'm here Kaede. I'm right here."

I sat down in a nearby chair, still holding her hand. "I know you can hear me. I guess I have to do the talking for now, but you have to understand that I won't stop talking until you open your eyes."

A few minutes later, I heard a knock on the door, and Totosai walked inside. I got out of my chair and walked towards Totosai, giving him a warm hug. It had been a while since I had seen him, and I had to admit, I did miss the old guy.

"How are you Totosai? It's been a while." Totosai smiled a crocked smile and put his arm around my shoulders. "Well Kagome, I can report that I haven't broken any hips or femurs, so everything's been ok if I do say so myself." His eyes sparkled as he joked around, but lost some of its spark as he glanced over to Kaede. "I wish I could say the same for your grandmother. Iwas justtalking to the doctors. She hasn't opened her eyes Kagome, and that's not a good sign. I've been here most of the day, and have been begging her myself to wake up."

I looked over at Kaede, wishing that none of this were real. I wiped away a single tear that had stubbornly got away, and turned back towards Totosai, only to find a key in his outstretched hand. "This is for you. The key to your grandmother's house."

I took the key and held it in my hand. It brought back many happy memories that I had in that house. I smiled asTotosai hugged me again. "I better get going before I pass out from exhaustion and become a patient here myself. I'll be back tomorrow. We both can talk to the doctor then."

As he slipped out the door, I walked back over to the empty chair, slipping the key into my pocket for safekeeping. I grabbed her hand again, and gave it a little squeeze. I still couldn't believe it was happening. Kaede had always been so strong. She was the one that had always taken care of everyone else, including myself.

I felt very scared. I couldn't lose Kaede now. It seems as if I had just lost Hojo. Even with Kaede in the room with me, I had never felt so alone in three years as I did in that hospital room. Tears started falling down my face, and I didn't even bother wiping them away. "Damn." I said under my breath.

I stood up slowly and leaned forward to kiss her on her cheeks. I stood, looking at her face. Her skin was gray, making her look as fragile as a china doll. I almost laughed at the thought of her yelling, "BOO! Ha! Scared ya didn't I?"

But she didn't. She just layed there, unmoving, with the only sound in the room being the sound ofthe heartmoniterin my ears. A single tear slid down my face and landed on her cheek, but it just slid down to her chin.

"I'm going to the house now, and I'll be back tomorrow. First thing. I promise." I walked away with one last light squeeze of her hand. As I slid the door closed, I whispered one last thing.

"Good night, Kaede."

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I promise to get out another chapter really soon. Please R&R. I need your input on this to make sure that I should go on with this one. I know that you probably can't picture Kaede being 'dipped' and everything, but that's why its a AU. Thanks, and please review. God bless! 

DropofCrimson


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